Team Fortress 2: Unlockable Weapon Trading (How to get new items)

We are on day 2 of the Sniper and Spy update for Team Fortress 2. In the last 24 hours, the community in general has been in an uproar with abundant rumors and theories. Tonight, Valve has finally spilled the beans.

Here are the facts on the new unlockable weapon system and trading system:

The system is now based on play time. If you play long enough, you will get all the items. Basically, at set intervals the game will do a random check and if you win, you will find a new item. Lets make this clear. This is not based on game performance at all–kills, deaths, actions in game etc do not matter. Reportedly you can be in spectator mode and still find items, so long as you are taking up a server slot.

Valve calculated the system so that the average TF2 player will get all the weapons in 2 weeks time. (On AVERAGE–some will get more, some less).

Valve confirmed the system was NOT working correctly the first night of the patch, Thursday 5/21 but seems to be working now.

A new system will soon be implemented allowing players to trade items. Check out your character loadout screen in-game and click on the briefcase below the classes. This is a list of all items you have. There is a limit of about 25 items in your inventory at a time, and you can have duplicates. The system was designed this way to allow you to trade extras to other players, though the the trading system is not active yet.

The headgear slot now has a use. Each class currently has a unique helmet, which is a rare item find that appears to function the same as the other weapon drops, just happening less often. (A special thanks to KoolAid for confirming the Scout helmet in-game with a screenshot posted here on daydull.com — see the screenshot here)

More rare items will be added in the future (in addition to the hats).

In the future, there will be some sort of method to influence the system so you are more likely to receive the item you are looking for.